A News-Journal article takes a look into Daytona State College’s ambitious plans to implement a complete e-text solution to combat rising textbook costs for students.
Executive Vice President Rand Spiwak stated that the college tried to find another institution that had gone completely e-text so that they could replicate the model. "We gave up," Spiwak said. "Everybody is waiting for somebody else to do it."
Daytona State College received a FIPSE Grant last October to research four textbook rental models: traditional, e-book, Kindle, and student-club. This initiative has cumulated in the institution issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) that seeks proposals from publishers that can provide electronic textbooks to the students at the college. These proposals are being accepted until July 15th, and will be made public on Daytona’s website soon after. The college plans to enter a long-term relationship with the publisher(s) whose proposals best fit its needs.
According to Daytona, this is part of a two step process, and “RFP number two will address hardware/connectivity/on-campus printing, distribution, data storing and other related issues.”
More information on Daytona’s vision, its plans, and the RFP process can be found here.
